Zombies! discussion

I'm buying myself World War Z today for a belated Christmas present. While looking for it, I ran across so many zombie books. I'm really wanting to buy a couple, but I was wondering what you guys would recommend.

So my question is: What is your favorite zombie book, and why?

I just got World War Z for Christmas, and I'm already 1/2 way throuygh with it. What a great presentation! Much props to Max Brooks!!!

I just read Moody's _Autumn_, first in a so-far four-book series. Good stuff. You can get it for free on his Web site and read it on your computer or print it out.

Another good one, but awful strange, is _Every Sigh, the End_.

I am currently reading Every Sigh, the End, and am loving it. It makes you feel like you are slipping into maddness yourself. I will wait to post a review until I am finished, but so far I am very impressed. Also I LOVED the Autumn series. Very classic zombie stuff.

I'm with Brandon all the way on this one -- I started Every Sigh a couple nights ago and it's extremely addicting. Autumn is the first book I read on a computer screen, something I thought I'd hate, but I couldn't stop. It's just so good! The zombies in that book experience a learning curve that is truly frightening. I have to read the rest in the series.

Just finished World War Z. WOW, what a unique book. Great delivery, very believeable, very creepy. A must read!

I also just finished World War Z and I loved it! I hadn't heard anything about it before I read it and I was expecting a different type of book, but I was surprised. I think the scariest part is how realistic (in regards to different strategy and reactions around the world) it seemed. Scared me, but I really enjoyed it! Wow......

My World War Z is on it's way from Amazon now. I'm excited like a little girl.. who loves zombies..

I just borrowed World War Z from a friend, but I'm still all over it. The book just FEELS good when you hold it in your hands.

I think I'm going to have to read Every Sigh, The End, now, too. It sounds like another good one.

After putting down WWZ a few weeks ago, thinking I wouldn't bother finishing it, I have picked it up again and I'm so glad I did. There is a lot more great stuff in the last 1/4 of the book. I guess I just got burned out after reading most of it within a few days and not being able to get enough sleep at night due to creepiness factor. Reading this book is kind of like being slammed against a wall repeatedly and then left whimpering in a corner. I can hardly wait to claw my way through the last brutal tidbits of it.

I just got it on Saturday, and at first I was not so impressed - though I think this was due to overexcitement and not a reflection of the book itself. However, the more I read, the creepier it gets. I had to leave it at home so I'd actually get some work done today.

Phillip Nutman's WETWORK was released a few years ago. It presents the topic from some interesting angles. The AUTUMN series was cool, and I also really like DAY BY DAY ARMAGEDDON by J. L. Bourne.
But my all time favorite is still Richard Matheson's I AM LEGEND. Romero has said that he was doing an unlicensed IAL adaption when he filmed the original NOTLD.
Oh, I'm Tony BTW, just joined.

Tony,

It's cool to run across someone else who read Wetwork. I agree. It's got a number of interesting and creative ideas in it, but I didnn't find it to be a great read over all.

I Am Legend is amazing too.

Another book I'd recommend is THE DEAD by Mark Rogers. It has a slight Christian bent to it, but that's mainly because the book is set against an "end of days" premise. The fact that the book was set against (for me) recognizable locations in New Jersey only added to it for me.

World War Z is quickly becoming the definitive zombie book. And it deserves it. The way it binds the whole outbreak within the real global political landscape of today made all the more powerful. There is a movie on the way in 08. Lets hope that it bests anything romero has done lately.

I will put in a vote for Monster Island. It's not 100% traditional zombie fiction, but it did bring some interesting new angles to the genre and overall it was a good pulpy read.

Wetwork, Autumn, I am Legend, and Every Sigh, The End are all going on my list now.

Has anyone else read DAY BY DAY ARMAGEDDON by J.L. Bourne? It was only released originally in a small press version, but there is a new edition. I actually rather enjoyed it, and you get the feeling that the author knows what he is talking about.

How could I forget!?!? The Stupidest Angel, by Christopher Moore. A humorous, Christmas Zombie Story, by one of the masters of humorous fiction. Definitely worth a read, Christopher Moore rocks!!!

Oh! I love Christopher Moore but I hadn't gotten around to The Stupidest Angel yet! Thanks for the tip :-)

Some good suggestions here. I'll have to look into them. Thanks!

The Stupidest Angel was AWESOME. So funny that just the thought of it makes me want to go to ikea. Zombies and comedy are like cookies and milk.

I haven't posted before but thought I should since I just added a few books to the case. Chasing the Dead by Joe Schreiber, while not a traditional zombie outbreak kind of story, weaves enough voodoo and walking corpses to please any Romero fan. The book is fast paced and scary as hell.

The other book I posted is my own (I won't pimp it here though, unless that's cool.)

Great group!

How about a true Zombie story? Serpent and the Rainbow. Please don't judge it by that terrible movie. The book is a story of the voodoo, zombie situation in Haiti. It is resonably well documented and is by a Harvard ethnobotonist, Wade Davis. It is a captivating exploration of Haitian history and the Voodoo religion. Definitely a great read, and there's pictures of real zombies standing next to their tombstones! (though they don't eat brains...)

One of the best zombie stories that I've read....well, ever has to be the Walking Dead graphic novel series. Compelling and real characters who all have to come to grips with a zombified world. It has everything that's crucial to a zombie story and adds a lot of interesting twists to the canon as well. Volume 7 of the series came out just before Christmas and I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for the next edition.

I had just noticed my copy of Walking Dead and that nobody had mentioned it when I saw your post - great timing! It's an excellent graphic novel series. I'd read the first books before reading Brian Keene's The Rising and found them to be fairly similar in "feel".

I really enjoyed The Rising, it was a fresh take on the zombie story with interesting and believable characters. You're right that there's a lot of the feel of the Walking Dead in it. Keene has such a great start but I felt that the story petered out into nothing by the middle of City of Dead. I haven't given the rest of his books a shot yet- Dead Sea looks like his only other zombie book and the reviews on Amazon don't sound to happy with it.

Brian Keene's homepage has a pdf of the unpublished original ending to The Rising. I guess there wasn't going to be a sequel, but in the final edit, the end was changed, which leads right into City of the Dead. This may explain how the "Land of the Dead" skyscraper element crept into "City" and why some readers felt it kind of petered out. I loved it all the way through, for what it's worth!

I'm reading Dead Sea right now...I bought it thinking it was a continuation to City of the Dead. It's not. So far, so good...

Speaking of Book of the Dead, didn't that include a story by Douglas Winter called Less than Zombie? I can't tell you how much that short influenced me as a writer. His parody of Bret Easton Ellis was spot on. He did another one called Bright Lights Big Zombie which was grotesque and hilarious, too things I really strive to achieve.

Lots of great books mentioned here so far. My own short list includes...Nutman's Wetwork, Keene's The Rising, Brooke's World War Z, Bourne's Day by Day Armageddon, Paffenroth's Dying to Live, Pretty much anything by Perumted Press, including all three volumes of The Undead and their new collection of novellas called Headshot Quartet, Snell's Roses of Blood on Barb Wire Vines, King's Pet Semetery, and if you like Romeroesque zombies, there's my own book Dead City. The field is pretty wide though, with tons of great works I haven't mentioned here.

I'd say Dead in the West by Joe Lansdale is my favorite Zombie book, although I liked Stupidest Angel a lot.

Who read Steven King's The Cell? I thought it was OK, if not a bit played out. But, a zombie is a zombie and I am duty bound to keep it in my library.

Speaking of zombies...does anyone have Marvel's Zombies? I saw a copy of one issue a while back but does anyone know if the entire story line has been released in a single TPB?

Marvel Zombies is out in TC or Hardback, probably be out in TP soon though. Also look for Army of Darkness/Marvel Zombies crossover thats out in Hardback, its suppose to be excellent.

There was a TP of Marvel Zombies. There was also a limited series cross-over with the Marvel Zombies & Ash (yes, that Ash). Was rather funny and well done.

I actually liked Stephen King's The Cell! It wasn't my favorite by him, but I thought he did a good job w/ the genre!

I liked it too, but kept thinking of The Stand and Swan Song while I read it. Even the last scene in the book (the one where he and his zombie kid are sitting on the curb) reminded me of the last scene in Shaun of the Dead. I dunno, the whole thing just seemed unoriginal.

Cell felt like a lighter version of The Stand to me while I was reading it, with a generous portion of I Am Legend as well.

Do you know which came first? Shaun of the Dead or The Cell? Just curious.

Dan, you are definitely right! And The Stand and I Am Legend are my favorites! So, I can't say anything bad about it!

Shaun of the Dead came out in '04. Cell came out in '06 although it seems much older than that to me.

Hi folks, first time poster here, just joined.

I read Max Brooks' Zombie Survival Guide (Complete Protection from the Living Dead :)) and World War Z last month. The feeling I got from the last part of the ZSG (where zombie outbreaks throughout time are discussed) and from WWZ was fantastic, the books are awesome. Just wanted to share that with the group :).

I'm almost done w/ WWZ myself. Such a blast to read.

Personally, I loved Brian Keene's The Rising and City of the Dead. The zombies were different than the norm, but I thougt it made them that much more terrifying. If you just have to have the traditional zombie, check out Dead Sea. Some of the middle parts were a little slow, but I really liked it as a whole. I also enjoyed David Wellington's Monster trilogy. Some pretty original ideas in there

I enjoyed these too -- in his blog, Keene mentions that he was crucified by "the fans" for ending The Rising as he did. Personally, I was thrilled the story contiued into City of the Dead and I consider myself a fan of Mr. Keene's books!

I really enjoy David Moody's Autumn series. I've read the first two. Actually, Autumn is the first book I've ever read on my laptop -- I'm one of those people who enjoys reading ink on paper over backlit screens. Download the first book here.

Boom Studios' Zombie Tales TPB had some very cool zombie short story comics in it -- the first story really gets the collection moving!

I gotta plug Permuted Press here -- they've got it going on in the Zomb Lit world!

Has anyone heard of Infected by Scott Sigler? I just picked up a prepub and it sounds cool.

From the back cover, "Across America, ordinary people are turning into raving, paranoid murderers. A CDC investigator discovers that the killers all have one thing in common: they've been colonized by a mysterious, bioengineered parasite."

I'll let you guys know if it's any good.

Sounds cool -- a library in my system has it on order, and I'm now #1 on the request list! Ah, sometimes a dull night at work is good for something!

My debut novel, HAPPY HOUR OF THE DAMNED, hit the shelves this week. As far as I know, it's the first urban fantasy with a sentient zombie heroine.

Check it out...

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22...

I just finished Rise & Walk by Gregory Solis. I found it to be a quick and enjoyable read and would definitely recommend it to fans of the genre.

Terry, I'm about 50 pages away from finishing Infected, and wow -- it sank it's snelled barbs into me and didn't let go right from the start. Holy smokes! And, yeah, even though it's not *really* a zombie book, it's a kickass horror/disease/plague novel! Thanks for bringing this to our attention!

I'm just started
Is a very good book and the fact that it is written as a diary makes it even more attractive because in addition to having a strong pace manages to immerse the reader in the anxieties and fears of the protagonist

Hi Guys,
I'm new to the group.
I've just bought World War Z, Autumn, and The Zombie Survival guide.

I'll let you know how I get on :)

Welcome, D.M.!

Thanks Elizabeth :)